Asked to expand on that bombshell, he responded: "I don't know. Just a feeling … just a feeling. It feels like a summing up to me. We'll see how things turn out."

About Time, which stars Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson, is only Curtis's third film as a director. Prior to Love Actually, he confessed, he did not have the confidence to take charge of the cameras. "Many of the comedies I like the most, from Woody Allen's films to Monty Python's films, have been directed by the people who write them," he said. "So it was quite a logical thing, but I wasn't ready to do it at that point. And when I reached that point, I was ready to do it."

Curtis did not discuss whether he would stop writing after the release of About Time, which centres on a young man (Gleeson) who discovers he can travel through time and uses his gift to change history and woo McAdams's character. It is due out on 8 August in the UK, 1 November in the US and does not yet have an official Australian release date.